Yesterday we split into small groups to ride routes in the areas close to us. Alex, Ryan and I rode almost 60km from Beverley hitting two local hills, Trundlegate and Stoneknowle (which Alex had tried to avoid before now due to his hate of hills!). We included a few sprints at random points in the ride and it was an enjoyable outing in the end and I’m looking forward to doing more group rides in the coming weeks.

​During this session we rode from Beverley Westwood out to Trundlegate (South Newbald) with a view to doing some hill reps/training.
 
The session was about having good control of the bike going down and when climbing and using the right gears, effort and generally practice for going up inclines like that.
 
When I was at the bottom I looked at the hill and thought I was going to struggle but it didn't seem so bad after I got past the steepest part!
 
The easiest part was going down as I didn't have to pedal as much because if I wanted to keep control on the turns and stay on the brakes just in case.
 
The hardest part was definitely when the hill kicked up again. In this session I learned about the RPE scale (Rate of Perceived Exertion). This is a way to measure how much effort you are putting in when riding or doing any form of exercise.
 
The Cycle Academy has been really valuable for me so far encouraged me to stop smoking and improve my general fitness!